note for anyone following this and considering a purchase:
opened my super beast 100 up again today and turned the pot DOWN - it now performs reliably
when i first received it it was probably at the edge on the highest setting in the performance range. of course, my reaction (coming from a background in circuit bending analog synthesizers) was to turn the pot up, then turn it back down when i discovered that up didn't work. got the beam focused and now it's quite bright. not fun to look at shining down a 40' hall in the day time.